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Council of Bears: In the Olympic National Park

by Pete Merrill

290 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-2098; ISBN 1-4120-4291-7; US$25.00, C$29.00, EUR20.50, £14.50

The new adventures of Pete, Ralph and Macduff up in the high country where the bears find that staying out of trouble is just as difficult as it was at sea level.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

This is Pete Merrill's second book about bears. The first, Ralph, Conversations with a Bear, describes his meeting in the woods near his home with curmudgeonly old Ralph Shakesbear and his young grandson Macduff. Their relationship was usually contentious -- Ralph considers Homo sapiens an inferior lot. "Human beans," as he calls them, "are a dysfunctional species who are forever shooting themselves in the foot."

Pete and Ralph managed to maintain tolerable relations until the pressures of encroaching civilization became intolerable. Pete agreed to help relocate Ralph and Duffy to Olympic National Park where Ralph thought they could "live in peace" as every bear has a right to, away from the corrupting influence of the "beans".

In Council of Bears we find the aging Ralph, now Alpha bear, elder statesman and self-appointed ursine major domo, attempting to organize all the bears in the south end of the park. His authority apparently does not extend to his irrepressible adolescent grandson, Macduff who much prefers driving the park rangers crazy and keeping campers on constant alert. Macduff considers that he is doing the campers a favor -- providing them with wilderness adventures they can "tell their grandchildren about".

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About the Author

Pete Merrill, who claims to be able to talk to crows and seagulls as well as bears, lives on Hood Canal near Belfair in Western Washington about 40 miles from Olympic National Park. He is a retired high school teacher of history and related subjects and is quick to admit to being a practising octogenarian.

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Excerpts

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Catalogue Information

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